Quit calls grow for rulers

LAHORE As the US covert Abbottabad operation piled bitter embarrassment on civil and military leadership, Pakistani rulers on Saturday came under mounting pressure to resign due to the reason that the US commando operation that killed Osama bin Laden had breached countrys sovereignty. Cricketer-turned-politician and Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Ch Nisar Ali Khan and estranged PPP leader and former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi have joined the chorus of persons demanding resignations from President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. Shah Mahmood Qureshi has asked President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani to resign after their failure in ensuring security of the country because the Americans conducted raid inside Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden. Whereas some Pakistanis have focused their anger on the countrys powerful army and intelligence chiefs, Qureshi has held Zardari and Gilani responsible for the failure to protect the country. 'This is a great violation of our sovereignty, but this is for the President and Prime Minister to resign and nobody else, said Qureshi in Press talk at the Lahore Press Club on Saturday. Qureshi demanded that a Parliamentary Committee should also conduct an inquiry against the military top brass, and the guilty should be punished as well. He also demanded convening of meeting of Defence Committee of the Cabinet. He asked the President to convene an immediate meeting of the partys Central Executive Committee to apprise it about the inclusion of Benazir Bhuttos killers (PML-Q) in the Cabinet, and breach of Pakistans sovereignty. He mentioned that if he would not be invited to the meeting, he would announce his strategy later on. He mentioned that senior PPP leaders Raza Rabbani, Nawabzada Ghazanfar Gul, Safdar Abbasi and others had serious reservations, and had not accepted the PPP-Q alliance. While launching bitter diatribe against his last political bosses, Qureshi questioned seriousness of the government over the issue since the latter had failed to nominate a Foreign Minister. 'What sort of diplomacy would it be in such a case? he questioned, while asserting that he was pushed out of his position as Foreign Minister in February after he clashed with party officials over Raymond Davis issue. In the same way, Ch Nisar also asked Zardari and Gilani to go home. 'The operation tramples on our honour and dignity, and the President and Prime Minister must either give an explanation or resign, demanded Nisar in his talk to mediamen at the Lahore Airport. 'The government is keeping silent and there appears to be nobody to respond to propaganda against Pakistan, he opined, saying that people in the country were feeling 'insecure after the covert US mission. 'Those who are responsible must admit and quit, asked Nisar. He also criticised the countrys powerful intelligence agencies, saying that Pakistani institutions had 'deviated from their real role. 'All institutions from the Presidency to organisations falling under the security umbrella are answerable to the nation, he observed, while asking President Zardari to break his silence, and explain to the people about the actual happening. Nisar also stated that if Gilani did not give replies to Oppositions queries, the PML-N would announce its strategy in its central meeting to be held in Islamabad on May 10th.